the article presents data from an analytical review of civil cases related to the protection of the rights and interests of minors in disputes over the right to raise children. The main purpose of the study is to justify the need for a significant correction of the procedure for participation in them by a specialist psychologist. The article shows that a large number of conclusions of psychologists have procedural, methodological and ethical errors. The expert's conclusion, which is accepted in the case as evidence, is not evaluated for completeness, validity and correctness of conclusions. However, the presence of a conclusion of a specialist psychologist in some cases is seen by the judge as a reason for refusing to appoint a forensic psychological examination, in cases where it is clearly necessary. At the same time, in order to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the psychological components of legally significant circumstances that need to be established and proven in disputes over the right to raise children, it is important to apply a more formally defined forensic psychological study. In our opinion, if the parties submit to the court a specialist's opinion based on the conclusions of a pre-trial psychological study, it is necessary to subject it to mandatory review by specialists of state and non-state expert institutions.

The relevance of this research is connected with the necessity of develo­ping the theory of delinquent behavior and of improving the prevention of juvenile delinquency. The analysis of clauses that form the foundation of delinquency prevention programs shows the dominance of personal, behavioral and social environment-related views and a poor development of subjective views that modify the understanding of social consequences of crimes by adolescents. The goal of this research was to study the ideas of adolescents regarding social space and their impact on their assessment of crimes and their consequences. The study was based on the principles and clauses of a subjective approach, and the social-cognitive theory. The information processing methods included the frequency content-analysis (text-meaning), the assessment of differences (H-test of Kruskal-Wallis), and the multi-factor, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The authors established that juvenile delinquents’ understanding of interactions in the social space has an influence on their description of crimes. They also determined the statistical differences in the understanding of interaction with the social space between law-abiding adolescents and juvenile delinquents. It was shown that juvenile delinquents believe that social space ignores and devalues them, while law abiding adolescents believe that it is sensitive and supportive. Juvenile delinquents consider it possible to be irresponsible and dishonest in their interactions with other people, while law abiding adolescents strive to be responsible, honest and fair. The authors found out that the assessment of relationships with the social environment has an impact on the description of the consequences of a crime in a group of juvenile delinquents. The obtained results specify the ideas on the subjectivity of juvenile delinquents, prove that the subjective world view determines how the crime itself and its consequences are perceived, provide additional evidence that underage crimes are determined by the disruption of the relationship with the social environment, and show that the consequences of crimes are described using the vocabulary of risks and opportunities, consequences and advantages, break-up with the close ones and isolation.

The article justifies the relevance of the research problem proved by both statistical data relating juvenile delinquency and the current research results. The results of psychological characteristics and personal features of juveniles study are introduced. It is established that minors with delinquent behavior are distinguished by the desire to draw attention to their own personality, inadequate understanding of how they are evaluated by others, a low level of psychological wellbeing, and difficulties in planning the future. A program to optimize the level of psychological well-being of minors with delinquent behavior, in accordance with the identified targets of psycho correctional work has been developed. The effectiveness of the program is confirmed. It is based on a positive change in a number of parameters of the psychological well-being of minors (development of the ability to plan and predict possible scenarios of events and their own future; strengthening of such personal qualities as responsibility, the ability to reflect and structuring their time, regulation of emotional manifestations and behavior; actualization of the need for self-development, motivation for success, the desire to accumulate new knowledge; improvement of the processes of self-understanding and acceptance of others, which is manifested in the recognition of their own uniqueness and the recognition of this uniqueness in each of the surrounding people.

The article deals with the relevance and social significance of the problem of identifying the determinants of delinquent behavior and factors of criminalization of minors. A statistical analysis of juvenile delinquency is provided. The purpose of the study is to analyze domestic and foreign studies of the determinants of delinquent behavior of minors. The article presents the results of theoretical analysis of foreign and domestic studies that reveal two leading groups of causes of juvenile delinquency: individual typological (a combination of personal characteristics, temperament properties, character accentuation, deformation of the value-semantic sphere of the individual, weakness of intellectual development, low academic performance, pedagogical neglect, inadequate self-esteem, a reduced level of self-control, unformed volitional qualities, socio-psychological maladaptation, inability to organize free time, etc.) and socio-psychological (family problems, violations of parent-child relationships, the breakdown of the family structure, early deprivation in the family, lack of parental involvement in the child's education, disparity of parenting styles of parents, the negative example of the impact of the reference group, dependence on deviant peers, the influence of criminal subculture, lack of social control, the availability and prevalence of negative information, social exclusion, stigma, stereotypes, etc., as well as situational circumstances – victim behavior of the victim, detection of unattended valuables, etc.). contradictions, insufficiently studied aspects, promising research directions for the causes and mechanisms of formation, as well as prevention of delinquent behavior of minors are Identified.

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